Martha Jane Carling Webb Porter
born Martha Jane Carling
25 June 1867 - 3 October 1952
by Elaine Johnson
Submitted to the USGenWeb Project and IDGenWeb Project Archives by Elaine Johnson on
28 November 1996.
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FAMILY HISTORY BY MARTHA CARLING WEBB PORTER
Logan, Utah, June 20, 1932
A bit of Family History which I shall write for the benefit of my children in
years to come, when they become interested in genealogical work, for the purpose
of doing temple ordinance work for kindred dead. I will first tell you something of
my parents. I did not realize the importance of recording their history what they
could have given me before they were gone, and now it is too late, and so I will try
to record those things which I think will be of interest to them when I shall no
longer be with them.
My father, Isaac Vanwagoner Carling, was born Nov. 30, 1831,
Klinesopus, Ulster County, New York. He was son of John Carling, who was born
Sept 11, 1800, Kingston, Ulster County, New York. He was the son of Gabrael
Carling. We have no farther record of Gabrael Carling at present.
Isaac V. Carling's mother was Emmeline Keaton, born Nov. 1, 1806, died
Jan 1, 1844. She was the daughter of Jacob Keaton and Catherine Keaton.
At the time of the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday
Saints, in the year of 1830, by the Prophet Joseph Smith my Grandfather John
Carling joined the church in its early days, cannot give the dates, but the family
with the other early members of the church, suffered mobbings and drivings from
their homes and those persecutions and hardships which were forced upon them by
their wicked enemies.
My mother, Asenath Elizabeth Browning, born Nov. 17, 1835, Adams Co,
Illinois. She was married to my father I.V. Carling in the Endowment House, in
Salt Lake City, in 1854. They lived at Ogden with my mother's people for about
two years, after their marriage. Sarah their oldest child was born in Ogden Feb. 25,
1856. Upon coming to Utah, John Carling and his family including Isaac Carling
settled in Provo, but in 1853 they were called by the authorities to move to Fillmore
to help build up that new settlement, which at that time was the Capitol of the
Territory of Utah. Both of my Grandfathers John Carling and Jonathon Browning
served terms in the Legislature which was held in the old State House in Fillmore.
My father I.V. Carling made their home in Fillmore after the first two years of
married life, where their children Emeline Asenath, Ann, Laura Malvina, Olive
Charilla, Catherine Aurelia, Martha Jane, Phebe Malinda, Isaac Vanwagoner Jr.,
Mary Alice, Miriam Eliza, Barbara Amelia were all born in Fillmore with the
exception of Barbara Amelia, who was born in Orderville, Kane County, Utah.
[According to the Fillmore Ward records she was blessed 7 June 1867 by Thomas
R. King.]
Our parents moved to Orderville about the month of May 1875 for the
purpose of living in the united order, as the people there seemed to be making a
greater success of living it than attempted to live this co-operation, and they had
failed, and had gone back to the old way of living. Our parents felt that to live and
practice this order of living would be a better way to live, and raise their children,
and so they sold the home in Fillmore and cast their lot with the Orderville people.
Turned in all their property to the association, excepting the personal property, and
all members of the family who were old enough to work, were soon given their
work to do, and were soon absorbed in the hive of industry, where all were united
in the work for all.
At this time I was eight years old, and of course not big enough to do much
work, but looked forward to the time when I would be old enough to take turns
with the older girls waiting on the big table, for the people all ate at one table all
together. I will tell you of the founding, and of the founders of Orderville. These
are the names of the company of people called from Nephi to the Muddy country
to pioneer that place make settlements and homes in that part of Utah, Sanjaun
County. The seasons were too short there to allow the crops to mature, before the
frost would come and ruin them in fall, and they were so far away from, and such
bad roads to the settlements, that it became necessary for them to abandon that part
of the country. The Indians too, were very troublesome, they would steal and drive
the cattle, horses etc off, and made it very hard for these sturdy pioneers to live
there, and so President Brigham Young (who had the supervision of the pioneering
and colonizing Utah, as well as parts of other western states) recalled this little
company, consisting of Samuel Claradge, Israel Hoyt, George Harmon, Thomas
Stalworthy, William Heaton, there may have been others who I do not know, yes
there is John Esplin also, and these faithful and trusted men with their families were
sent to Long Valley which is a long narrow valley, in the center of this valley in the
wilds, here they established a settlement and called it Orderville, in Kane County,
Utah. This company procured a sawmill, others came and joined them, and turned
what property they had, into the order, for the use of all. [Martha was baptized 13
August 1876 when she was nine years old.]
This order had been running more than a year, when my parents moved
from Fillmore to Orderville. Here all were poor alike, none felt above the others
because of wealth, because all shared alike.
The people who joined the United Order were given work that they could
do best, or liked to do best, so far as they could consistently, but this was not
always possible.
The people who joined this settlement were all rebaptized and made
covements that they would keep the commandments, there were certain rules called
Rules of the United Order, to be observed by all members of the United Order.
We did not have much money to turn in, but what he did have was turned
over to the authorities with the other property. My mother's dishes were also
included, all but a few choice pieces that were given to her as gifts, all others went
to the public kitchen, for they were needed there, and, as we were going to eat at
the public Dining Hall, we would not need them at home.
I well remember the first meal that I ate at the big table, a little girl living
near by asked me to go to dinner with her to the big table, as it was called by the
children. On our way there, she warned me not to leave any food on my plate, for
she said, if you do, Aunty Harmon (this was the name of, or at least, what the
children called the head matron who took charge of the children, and waited upon
them during their meals) will make you eat it whether you can or not.
And so, I remembered what she said, and sure enough, Aunty Harmon was
the one who gave me my dinner, a very liberal allowance of potatoes and gravy,
and bread and butter if I remember right, well, there was more than I could eat, I
tried, but it seemed that if I ate the last piece of potatoe, which I felt that my
stomach could not hold, I would be sick, and so, I watched my chance, and when
Aunty Harmon was busy looking after the other children, I slipped the piece of
potatoe into my pocket, and took it out and buried it under a sagebrush.
In after years, this incident was a lesson to me in dealing with my own
children, such a course with children is apt to teach them to be deceitful and
untruthful, and so, parents should be careful how they deal with children.. As time
passed, I was very anxious to grow up, as most children are, I wanted to wait on the
big tables as my older sisters were doing, and learn to spin yarn for weaving cloth,
and to sing in the choir as all my older sisters did, there were six of my sisters and
my eldest brother singing in the choir at that time, six more of us joined the choir as
we became old enough, at times the majority of the singers were of my Father's
family. When I became ten years of age I was asked to sing in the Sunday School
choir at that time they had a Sunday School choir, they did not sing together as
they now do. In a few more years I was asked to join the adult choir, and from then
on I was a member of the choirs wherever I lived for many many years, and always
loved to sing.
[From a sketch written 23 Jun 1934 at Logan, Utah.]
The Big Table
Everybody ate at the Big Table. The women took turns cooking in the
community kitchen, six women would do the cooking one week, the next week six
more women would take their turn and so on. There were always men to do the
heavy lifting etc. The bakery was built adjoining the kitchen, and there was always
a man who did the baking. The dining room was adjoining the kitchen and this was
as near as I can remember about 40 by 60 feet. Six girls at a time waited upon the
tables that extended the length of the hall.
When I became ten years of age, I was asked to help to wait upon the
tables, this I was very glad to do, and enjoyed my work very much. In the same
year I learned to spin also, and after this I did a great deal of spinning. We girls
used to have spinning bees often, we would compete for the honors of being the
fastest spinners, also for making yarn of the most even and best quality. There were
two other girls of our crowd, who could spin a little more in quantity, or more
skeins in the day, but none of them could make better quality than mine. As time
sped on, we the people of Orderville seemed almost like one large family, while
there were always those who grumbled, and some family would become dissatisfied
and leave. But I count my experience gained during the ten years that we lived in
the United Order, a very valuable experience, a very good way to learn of human
nature.
I forgot to mention before that Howard Orson Spencer of Salt Lake City
was called to preside over this community of united workers. He chose my father
soon after his arrival in Orderville to be his first counselor in the Bishopric, and so,
from this time on thru the years, until he thot that he could not conscientiously
sanction the way things were turning for the breaking up of the order, this, he did
not think was right, and so, he resigned his position as counselor to the Bishop.
However Howard O. Spencer had been promoted to the Stake Presidency, but the
new Bishop Thomas Chamberlain chose him to be his councilor and so, he held
this position for many years. A little mistake here corrected. Instead of I.V. Carling
being counselor to H.O. Spencer, Thomas Chamberlain was Bishop of the
Orderville all this time and it was Thomas Chamberlain chose father to be his
counselor, and Howard O. Spencer was already a counselor to President L. John
Nuttell of the Kanab Stake.
Here I must say that my father I.V. Carling was a man of his word, a
gentleman in every sense of the word. An old friend of his once said of him "I
would be willing to trust brother Isaac with uncounted millions of money." No
hypocrisy about him. No one who was acquainted with him would fear to trust
him, he prized his honor and virtue above all earthly riches, and always taught us
his children to be examples as well as precept, to live pure, clean, virtuous, honest,
honorable, useful lives, to prepare us for better higher living, to cultivate refinement
and kindness.
My mother, Asenath Elizabeth Browning Carling, Than whom there was no purer,
more devoted and faithful mother, always setting good examples to her children
and all who knew or associated with her. No deception or dishonesty here, no
taking advantage of anyone to get gain, I think that she came as near living the
"Golden Rule" as any mortal could do, and in my life I am trying to live my life in a
way that will reflect the good examples and training which they gave me while they
lived. And in turn am trying to set worthy examples for my children tho they are all
gone from my care, have grown into maturity, and all of them, who live, are rearing
families of their own, and I hope and pray our kind Heavenly Father to give them
each wisdom and power to perform the sacred duties of parenthood at all times in a
way that they will be successful in rearing their families in honor and purity and
usefulness and righteousness, that you will have no regrets nor remorse to make
you unhappy. I am very unhappy when I look back on my past life and remember
any neglect on my part of doing my full duty to my precious children. I thot that I
was doing the best that I could towards you all in our struggle with poverty and
neglect, and being ignored as we were, but it seemed at times that I was almost
crushed, and reason almost left me, and I now censure myself for allowing and
enduring the slights and neglects that my own dear children endured. But, I hope
that you will forgive me for this, as well as to forgive him for his treatment of you
while you were little and needed a father's love and care. Do not censure the
Church for this, for our gospel teaches all parents to support and care for and train
their children, and love and educate them, and make useful citizens of them, and so
when a parent neglects, or refuses to support and nurture his children, he is going
in direct opposition to the commandments of the Lord in our Gospel. This neglect
and sorrow were the result of another's selfishness and lack of stamina to do his
duty regardless of others opposition. And so, we must forgive, as we wish to be
forgiven, and trust in our kind Heavenly Father to deal out justice to all when His
day of reckoning comes, for that day will come, and then each one of us will
receive the reward which we have merited, according to the lives that we have
lived. Then all things will be made right, and I would rather be one who has been
wronged, than to be one who had wronged others, and made their lives miserable
or unhappy. It is much harder to forgive the wrongs done to my dear children, than
the wrongs done to me individually, but am trying to forgive all and leave the
outcome in the hands of a just God. I must not dwell on these unpleasant memories
longer, but I thot it best to mention these things that you may know how I feel
about them. But looking at them from another point of view, these experiences
have been a benefit us in one way, that we having endured these things, will have
sympathy for all suffering such hardships in life, and want to help to relieve their
suffering and want to bring them happiness if that were possible.
Now I will try to tell you something of my life as I grew to maturity in the
environment of the United Order. Here I attended my first school, with the
exception of a few days just before we left Fillmore. This first school was held in a
bowery by what we called the Big House, in which our family was given two large
rooms to live in. I will first describe town.
Town or village was laid out in the form of a fort. The eating house,
kitchen, bakery in the center, with all the different shops, store houses, business
places on the outside, with a street surrounding the village between the center
where the dwellings were, which consisted of small lumber shanties, of which the
average families were allotted two rooms. Larger families were given three rooms,
and lone persons were given only one room.
At first the diningroom was used for a meeting house, also for a schoolroom the
first winter, also for a social hall, the tables, and benches which were used for
chairs, were pushed to one side, to make room for the doings whatever they were.
But in a short time they built a schoolhouse and other buildings.
Father turned all of his property into the order which consisted of wagons,
horses, carpenter tools, turning lathe for turning both wood and iron, Scrool saw
and Circle saw, Coopers tools, etc. all went in for the use of the community, and
even mother's dishes were turned in, all except two, little fine dishes that had been
given to her for a birthday present. All clothing bedding etc. were retained by each
individual of course.
My father was a master workman at building, cabinet making, cooper,
turner, farmer and gardener, shoemaker, not merely a mediocre workman at them,
but a first class workman at each of these trades, anytime there were very difficult
things to do, such as repairing broken machinery etc. they would always come to
get him to do this work if no one else could do it.
And besides all these accomplishments, he was an artist of no mean ability.
I well remember when I was a small child, of him teaching a class to draw and paint
pictures. My mother and older sisters were students in his class, and he always had
the most beautiful flower garden in the community wherever he lived. My mother's
health being poor, so that she was unable to do much beside the necessary work of
caring for her children, her health broke under the burden of caring for my father's
other family of children after their mother died, there were four of them, and my
mother being about to be confined at the time, and father's wife who had died left a
baby boy only six weeks old weighing only three pounds. Father hired Aunt
Caroline Dutson to take care of this tiny baby until mother was able to care for him.
When her own baby my sister Phebe, was two months old, she took the little
motherless mite of a boy, (my half-brother Jesse) to her own bosom, and cared for
him as her own. The three other children of Aunt Miriams were taken by my
mother as soon as their mother had died and they all fared the same as her own
children, of whom there were eight. And they all remained with us until they were
married. I remember one day after I was married, I went home to see the folks, and
Mother and I while we were alone were talking about the family, and how she had
done her part by us all, and I said to her, well Mother you always loved Aunt
Miriam's children just the same as you did us, did you not? to which she replied
that she always tried to treat them just the same as she did her own, but that she
could not feel just the same towards them. This was a surprise to me, because I had
never seen her make any difference in her treatment of us. One of Aunt Miriam's
girls, Lydia May, was about nine months older than me, and we were so nearly the
same size and my mother always dressed us alike, and my father called us his twins,
we knew no difference in which belonged to Mother, and she had the reputation of
being an exceptionally good stepmother. This shows her splendid character.
I could not refrain from writing telling you my children of these splendid
characteristics of my parents, for you have not known much about them. One more
thing about them, and then I think it will suffice. They were both splendid singers,
tho bashful, never sang in public. Father was a violinist, and used to play for
dances. Mother played the accordian.
Marriage of Martha Jane Carling [All but one of Martha's sisters married
into polygamy. It was a principle they had been taught at home and church. It was
accepted and encouraged within the Order as the best way to conduct ones life.]
On March 21, 1883, in the Saint George Temple I was married to Francis
Adelbert Webb, who was thirty years old the day before we were married, and I
was sixteen Jan. 25, 1883. [Before the wedding her father went to Delly and told
him that while Martha was a wonderful girl she wasn't always completely honest.
He based this on a misunderstanding he hadn't even asked her about. Trust between
them was destroyed before their marriage began. Martha never blamed her father
for this. In her eyes he could do no wrong.] He had a wife and four children before
I married him, and I having been born and reared in the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, which taught polygamy as one of its principles and I wanted to
live the Gospel to the fullest, and I refused severall offers of young single men, and
accepted this offer. [Plural marriage had been outlawed by act of Congress in 1862
and the law was upheld by the supreme court in 1879.] He being a good man, and I
thot I would be happy with him. But met with sad disappointment. You my own
dear children know a bout these disappointments and trials, and so I will not dwell
on them here, only to plead with you to forgive those who wronged us, and don't
let these wrongs hold you back from accepting and living the Gospel, but first make
a thorough, unbiased investigation and search out the points of value that other
churches do not include, do your best, and don't forget to pray to our Heavenly
Father for his spirit to guide you, and show you the right, and then do not disregard
its promptings. Read with earnestness and sincerity and prayer, believing that you
will be helped. Do not listen to the enemies of the church, for who can judge it
better, or who knows more about it than those who have studied its principles and
workings, and have spent their lives in it. Of course none of its members are
without faults, for, our schooling in this church is to help us to overcome our
selfishness for selfishness causes more sorrow than anything else in this world,
because selfishness is the cause of nearly all crimes. Now just consider selfishness
is the cause of jealousies, when you go or delve right to the bottom of abuses, and
crimes, you will see and understand that selfishness is the root of all evil, not
money, but money in many cases is illegally gotten to gratify selfishness.
And inasmuch as we are all, to some degree afflicted with selfishness, and
sometimes some of us are greatly afflicted by the selfishness of others. For instance
(our sufferings and privations in the early lives of my precious children) were
mostly caused by the selfishness of another, only considering self, and disregarding
others. You will understand, and so, be in the battle always to fight selfishness. Our
church teachings always stress overcoming selfishness, one doing to others as you
would be done by.
I have digressed more, but my concern for you dear ones is so deep and I
am so anxious to have you to, or that you believe in the Gospel for you have been
away from organized wards the most of the time since you were married, and just
dropped everything pertaining to the church, and in the struggle for a livelihood you
have neglected your religious training and the religious training that your children
should have to prepare them for life's mission, and preparing for eternity which is
so much more important than this life, but this life is a school to prepare us for
promotion into one that will never end, and so, our preparation here is very
important for on it will depend what we are promoted to after we leave this life,
will be just what we have worked for while we are in this life.
Now to resume my story
My first baby was born the next December fifteenth, his uncle Edward
Webb blessed him and named him Edward Milo in honor of his Grandfather and
Uncle Eddie whose name was the same, but we called our baby Edward, not Eddie
as his uncle was called. I am reminded of the time when my baby cut his first tooth,
he had been sick for several days and his Uncle Eddie called to see how he was,
and when he asked how the baby was, I said O Eddie! Edwards got a tooth, then I
felt ashamed for having called the man by the baby name and the baby by the
man's name, but your father whom they all called Delly and the uncle whom they
all called Eddie, said one day they didn't see why their mother had them called baby
names and so we decided to call our boy the man's name at first and then when he
becomes a man, he will not be called by a baby's name, tho this seems rather stiff
though. He grew into a beautiful child, has a very kind and sympathetic disposition,
and all thru the years he has been and is, a very kind and helpful son and brother.
Then, he being the oldest of the children, the heavy responsibility fell upon him,
and he has borne it well. I often think that he must be one of the Lord's choice
spirits, who is being tried as gold in the furnace seven times, as the scriptures say,
and I believe that he will yet emerge from these trials and tortures, purified and
proven to be the pure gold, speaking symbolically, and that there is great happiness
in store for him, thru his faithfulness and integrity to what he believes to be right
and just.
My second child James Owens born Dec. 19, 1885 at Orderville, Utah. At
the time when he was four months old, my husband and his brother Edward Webb
made a move from Orderville to Woodruff, Arizona, started for Mexico, but, when
we arrived at this place we staid over for a few weeks, on account of Aunt Bell's
health not being good, also for the horses to recuperate and all, both people and
animals needed a rest and so, they, or we never finished the journey to Mexico, but
remained at Woodruff for about for years. Then we moved to Snowflake for a few
years. But while at Woodruff our little boy James or Daimie as I sometimes called
him, was taken away at the age of one year and a half. He died of Cholora Infatum.
[She had thought he was just teething but he died in the night from convulsions.]
This was a heavy blow to me and being so lonely of being separated from parents,
brothers and sisters I felt my baby's loss more keenly I believe than I otherwise
would have done. He was buried in the cemetery at Woodruff. My husband got a
chance for me to go back on a visit to Orderville, or Kanab, with Frank Perkins and
wife.
No this is not right. I with my little Edward who was now in his fourth year,
and a real comfort to me, we went with Brigham Duffin a neighbor of ours to
Kanab, and after our visit of one year and eight months, we returned to Woodruff,
Arizona with Frank Perkins and wife.
Four months after my arrival at Orderville, Dec. 27, 1887, my little girl
Alice Asenath was born. She was named Asenath in honor of my mother. She was
the most beautiful child that I had ever seen, a very clear complexion, bright blue
eyes, light curly hair, and the most angelic features imaginable. My people all loved
her so, my father especially made over her. She lived to be a little over a year old,
then she too was taken by death. This added sorrow seemed to me more than I
could bear, but my Heavenly Father helped me to bear it. This little
one her father never saw. The next April we went back to Woodruff. Upon arriving
there I discovered that my husband had sold the two little rooms that he had bought
for me in the old fort. It was part of the old fort that had been built as a protection
against the Indians when our Mormon people first settled in Arizona, but it was a
home, if ever so poor, the first home that I had had since my marriage. My
husband being at Snowflake working at the time there was nothing for me to do but
go to his other family and ask to be taken in until I could write to him to find out
what I could do, as he had made no provision for our returning.
In answer to my letter telling of our arrival and asking what he intended for
us to do, or where we could live, he wrote that a certain man of Snowflake would
be along on business in a few days, and that he had arranged for this man to call
and get us and take us to Snowflake for a while. He had rented a room for us. Of
course we were glad to go to be with him for a while. We staid there a few months,
then he sent us back to Woodruff to live in Aunt Bell's home, and had her come
with her family to Snowflake. We lived there about a year, and then we went to live
at the sawmill to cook for the sawmill hands, down to Snowflake in the winter then
back to the sawmill the next summer. I cannot remember time and dates of all these
moves, but my husband finally built a little two roomed house at Snowflake, that he
said was for me, but, still he soon sold it and moved me to a house he rented on a
farm but while living in this little home that I called my own my little Marcellus was
born June 6, 1890. It had been it seemed to me a long time since our little girl left
us, and this little boy was surely appreciated and loved. I had often prayed to the
Lord in those lonely years that he would send me another child to fill the emptiness
in my life and heart.
When he was two years old we were at the sawmill, and one day an Indian
came in the house which was some distance from the sawmill. The men had just a
few minutes before left the dinner table, and gone back to work at the mill. The
Indian closed the door and stood with his back against the door. He was a wicked
looking Indian and I saw that he was armed with a rifle, a pistol and a butcher
knife. All looked new and shining, and the saddle on his horse also looked new.
The food left from dinner was still on the table. I hastened to give him food, which
he accepted with a grunt, and rode away. I asked the men if they saw him. They
said no, and when they heard my description of him we all decided that he must
have been the Apache warrior for whom the government was offering a large
reward, he having killed a number of white people. They had been hunting and
watching for him a long time, but he had evaded them so far. The Apache Indians'
trail that they traveled to go to Pinedale to trade, lead right past the mill, and a few
times when I and my baby were alone, (Edward was now at school staying with the
other family at Snowflake) they came, I would try to appear calm, but could not but
feel afraid, because this tribe of Indians had been so ferocious, and had killed so
many white people, but the only thing that I could do was to trust to God for
protection and help.
In the fall this year I moved to the farm mentioned called the reservoir farm,
between Taylor and Snowflake, staid there with my two little boys. We three alone
until two days before the birth of my son Isaac, who was born Oct. 19, 1893, at
Snowflake, Arizona at the home of my husband's other family, who took care of us
for two weeks, when I was taken back to the ranch to spend the winter alone with
my little family. Edward walked to Snowflake about two miles to school that
winter. I well remember the time that I took Isaac my baby to Snowflake to be
blessed. He was six weeks old before I had had a chance to have him blessed. My
husband sent one of his boys with a wagon, this was a common way of conveyance
in those days. It was a cold day, and we sat upon a high seat, the cold cutting wind
was blowing, and I was so afraid that my baby would get cold, and I guess that I
wrapped him too warm. That night he took the croup, nearly choked, but I worked
and prayed over him, and he recovered.
We struggled on thru the hard winter and in April we were taken to Taylor
Arizona where we lived in a rented house a few months, then my husband bought a
place here for us, where I set out some fruit trees, and berry bushes, but we staid
here only a year.
Let me here digress again
I must tell you something about my public activities during these years,
while at Snowflake I served as counselor to the Primary President, also first
counselor to Ellen Smith who was president of the Young Ladies Mutual
Improvement Association.
When I moved to Taylor I had been there about a month but had not yet
gone out to any of the meetings, when one Sunday one of my neighbors came in.
She had just returned from the sacriment meeting. She told me that they had
reorganized the Young Ladies M.I.A. and asked me to guess who the new
President is. I said, I am not much acquainted with the young ladies here, so I could
not guess. She said, well it's you. Imagine if you can the shock and surprise this was
to me. I insisted that she was joking, but the Bishop soon told me about how it
happened. Taylor belonged to the Snowflake Stake, and the Stake presidency who
had known me at Snowflake had suggested my name as one for this office. Well I
tried to do whatever I was appointed to do the best I could, tho when I first heard
what they had done I said I can't do it, but upon further considering the matter I
told them that I would accept the office and do the best that I could, and so, when I
left to go away they seemed well pleased with the work I had done, and I felt better
than I would had I refused to do as I was asked by those in authority over me.
In August 1895 we left Taylor, Arizona, and moved back to Utah. My
husband decided to move his family back to Utah, and so we undertook the long
arduous journey back to the beloved Utah. I being in delicate health at the time, felt
the arduousness of it. My son Edward, the little man he was, for he was only eleven
years old, at that time, drove our team all the way from Taylor Arizona to
Orderville, Utah. Here my husband left me and my family of three children, and
took the other family to Fillmore, where he would go and locate the family in a
home, and would come back for us later.
Here at my parents home Sept. 17, 1895, at Orderville, my son Alma was
born. My father and mother, and sisters all did all they could for me and the
children, fed us all this time from August to Feb. and nursed me back to health and
took care of my family of little ones while I could not do it, and none of them
would take a cent for their work. I certainly love and appreciate them for it.
Finally in February my husband came and took us to Fillmore. There was
no place still for us to live, but I insisted upon him taking us, for my mother's health
was not very good, and both my parents were getting along in years, and I would
not impose upon them any longer. After they had reared their own large family or
families, it was too much for me to stay and impose upon them longer, and so, his
son Frank and his wife kindly offered to let us live with them until his father could
make arrangements for a home somewhere.
After inquiry my husband found that there was an eighty acre piece of land
uneven(?) and had not been taken, but I was very glad to file on it in my own
name.
[Delly and Ed built a small shack with a blanket across the door. The wind
wistled through and it was a very bad winter. They didn't have shoes so they
wrapped rags around their feet. Their vegetable supply was eaten by rats. They
burned sage brush to keep warm. Their horse ran away and it was difficult to find
close to home. They had only dried corn left to eat and Martha was sick when Ed
went for help. He met two of Delly's sisters coming to check on them. They
brought food and helped gather sage. They also reported what they found to
Delly.]
Thomas Callister, who was Aunt Bells brother, he was a true friend to me,
as he afterward proved his friendship with me.
My husband moved his family to Abraham Utah. As soon as I had lived
upon the 80 acre piece five years, the time required by law to prove up on the land,
I procured the deed to it and moved, after selling it to John Jackson, moved back to
Orderville where my father was still living, was given a church divorce, and my son
Edward assumed the responsibility of doing all that he could for the family, and
together with what the little children they were not old enough to do much to help
themselves and my health was poor, and the burden of supporting the family of
whom there were five small children who were not old enough to do any heavy
work rested upon Edward. He was only 17 years old. Marcellus was the oldest of
these little ones, and he was only 10 years old. The baby Leslie not two years old.
[Martha received word that her brothers and several of her sisters were
moving to Mexico. She quickly wrote a letter asking them to wait but by the time
she could dispose of her land they had left without her. Years later they were
forced to leave their homes and possessions because of the Mexican Revolution, so
it may be just as well she missed them.]
And so you can see what a helpless little family I had. But with Edwards
fine manly part that he played, and my father who helped us alot, and all of us
doing what we could, we got along better than we had before. There is no one
knows what it is to be a lone parent, with double responsibility upon them, unless
they have had the experience themselves. No wonder the Lord said for the elders to
visit the orphans and widows and minister to their wants.
Here I will go back and tell of the birth of my daughter Daphne, in
Fillmore, Millard co Utah, Nov 5, 1897. When she was two weeks old we
went back to our home on the sagebrush plat. I appreciated our little home tho ever
so poor, because it was our own, but the five years that we lived there was a
continuous struggle with poverty and privation, having been left alone the most of
the time with my little ones hardly ever going to town or anywhere, just existing is
about all.
Here too at this little home on March 21, 1900 my son Leslie was born. My
husband had been gone some time since he moved the other family away, and so
Edward was obliged to go for the doctor four miles away in the bitter cold night.
He was certainly an extra ordinary good boy to his mother, brother and sister, no
sacrifice was too great for him to make for us. May the kind Heavenly Father
reward him for it.
Tho his life so far has been disapointments and struggles I pray that he will
be richly rewarded for his goodness, with happiness and joy beyond expression.
And when the time comes for a promotion into higher and better life, may he be
well prepared to receive that reward which is waiting for him if he will but prepare
himself for it by serving and believing in our Heavenly Father, who loves all of his
children, but puts us thru severe dicipline sometimes to school and prove us that we
may be fit for membership in His Kingdom.
Alma and Daphne too have ever been loyal and kind to me their mother,
but they were too young during those years of our worst troubles to realize much
about the causes of it, tho they suffered with the rest of us.
And our dear ones who were taken from us Marcellus, Isaac and Leslie
were all good and kind and considerate of me and each other. None of them but
Edward knew the two sweet little babies James Owens, who died when he was only
one year and a half old, Alice Asenath died when she was only one year old, both
very bright beautiful children. It will be a very happy reunion when we as a family
can meet and associate together again, which I am anxiously looking forward to.
After living in Orderville for three years, we decided to move to Idaho
where Edward went to find work in order to make means to go to school, and do
what he could for the family. By this time some of the little boys were old enough
to work at thinning beets etc. and so he wrote that he thot that if I would go to
Idaho there would be work in the beet fields for the little boys, and so, after
consulting with my father about it we decided to go to Idaho where Edward was.
We sold our home again and hired a man to take us and our few belongings to
Marys Vale where we took train for Idaho. When we arrived at Firth Edward was
there with a team and wagon to take us to the home of L.D. Cox where they had a
little shanty in readiness for us. We lived there the first year and they, all who were
old enough to work got work there for the summer. The little boys too proved to be
good workers as they grew into the work and got used to it, and thereafter they had
no trouble finding work because these boys were dependable and could be trusted.
All were soon, after a year or two, engaged in working in the beet fields even
Daphne and Leslie the baby, made good workers, and there were always and are
still, exceptionally good workers.
It is certainly good, to have the confidence and respect of those we love and
associate with.
During the first two years we lived in Idaho the children Marcellus, Isaac,
Alma and Daphne walked two miles to school. Then with money that we sold the
home in Orderville for we bought a small piece of land in Basalt, Idaho, and the
boys built a little two room house on it after living on rented farms for five years.
But at the same time that we moved into our little home my son Edward married
and left the little home and home folks, but he still sort of looked after our welfare
until the other boys got a little older and they always helped each other as long as
they were together.
Love for my children
Language is inadequate to express my great love for my precious children,
tho feel at times, that it was almost like deserting them when I moved so far away
from them, but I think that you my dear ones all understand my attitude on this
question, for I think it better that we live apart, than that I would be the cause of
friction and trouble in any of the families of my children, for my desires and hopes
are only to be a help to give happiness and contentment to them, and unless I can
do this, I feel it is better for the cause of friction in the family should so far as
possible be removed, for we should all live in peace with each other and if we are
not doing this we are failing this much to make the most of our opportunities in life.
Then there is another reason for living so far from my own. It is that I
consider that I have a mission to do temple work for our kindred dead. I have been
promised by two patriarchs in my blessings that I shall do a great work in the
temples for the redemption of
my kindred dead, and I consider that this is the time to do this. If not, then when
would be a better time?
I have not means to travel to the temples, and so think it best, everything
considered, to try to get a little home here, where it will be handy for me to go to
the temple as often as I can and do what I can to give the dead the opportunity of
accepting the Gospel of Jesus Christ if they will. It seems bad to me when I
consider how hard I am working to give our kindred dead, who have not had a
chance during their lives upon this earth, to hear nor embrace the gospel, to give
them a chance, and still my own dear, precious children (who are dearer to me
than the kindred dead who I am trying so hard to help, could possibly be) but who,
I am powerless to help in this respect, because, they are right where these blessings
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are available to them, but they do not accept them,
because of the stumbling blocks which have been laid in their paths by professors
of the Gospel.
I am every day, pleading with my Heavenly Father that you my dear
children will not be losers, for those stumbling blocks, that caused you to lose faith
in the Gospel, because, if everyone who professes the gospel, would live according
to its teachings and principles, and there would be no stumbling blocks put in
anyones path.
Of course, my own comes first in my interest, and I would gladly do
anything that was in my power to help you see and understand the Gospel, but we
each one has to be responsible for our own doings, and one can't gain a testimony
of the truth of the Gospel for another nor can we do anothers work here, but
everyone has their free agency to do as they choose, and all depends upon how we
use this free agency as to the degree of promotion that we will receive when this
life is past, and we will be called to account, and promoted to that life which we
have proved by the cource that we have pursued in this school, that we will be
entitled to, this will be just what we have merited no less no more. And so it is up
to each ones self just what they will receive, there will be no complaints, because
the rewards will be just.
I want to say right here that my own precious children are the dearest
treasures that I could have, no wealth nor jewels of whatever value, could compare
with my jewels that are my children, and life without you dear ones would be
dreary indeed, especially if I knew that we would be separated in the eternities, that
would be unbearable to me.
I am looking forward to a reunion with all of my darling children, and my
dear parents and brothers and sisters and am trying to work to this end and hope
that you my own dear ones will also work to this end, and all be happy together,
and when the call comes for us to leave this earth we will all be closely associated
together there.
Now back to my history
[The night they moved in Martha and her boys stayed up all night setting
mouse traps. They caught 30 before morning.] While living on the Rubin Jensen
farm, which my boys rented for two years I was asked to be the President of the
Primary at Basalt, which office I accepted, and worked in that capacity for five
years. I resigned this position feeling that others could do the work better and being
very busy myself.
During the first year in Jan. after moving into our little home, our dear Isaac
died of pneumonia. He was at the time fourteen years old, and a very noble boy a
hard worker and a very kind boy to the family, and we missed his cheery presence
and kind helpfulness. At his funeral the Bishop said he had watched Isaac's life,
and he praised him very highly, said that Isaac did the work of a man. He was
certainly a noble boy.
Marcellus married Lamecia Hiett in 1910. They together with Edward and
Alma took homesteads on the Idaho Desert, about the year 1914. Just after this
Daphne had married and our home seemed lonely indeed but we must meet and
endure and make the best of all these things for all must meet them. Now there
were only three of us at home.
Alma went to work on the railroad and until he met with a painful accident
by falling from the top of a car while putting water into the boiler, he did not go
back to that work but he was not at home much after this but worked at several
places and trades, and Leslie was now old enough to do a mans work and he too
had to go away from home to work. He too was a hard worker, and they both were
kind and good to me, and did all they could to provide and make my life as pleasant
and easy to me as they could always considering my welfare before themselves and
generous and kind. Edward, Marcellus, Isaac and Alma each year during their
school years, were under the necessity of staying out of school both in spring
months while crops were being planted and in the fall months while crops were
being harvested to work for means for us to live upon, while other children started
with the beginning of school, and were not interrupted in their studies until school
closed. But these boys of mine did wonderfully well, regardless of the interruptions
in their studies, and did better than many who were not interrupted at all in their
studies.
In Dec. 23, 1917, Alma married, and now, only Leslie was left single. He
too had to be away from home to work, and the time that I staid home alone I was
lonely indeed, but I was always busy and tried to make the best of my lonely
condition.
In 1914 my sister Amelia asked me to go and take care of her during her
confinement at Bountiful. Leslie was going to herd sheep and Alma being away
from home, and so I went to take care of her. While there Leslie, on account of late
storms which hindered the sheep shearing which was going to furnish him work
could not get work there, and so he went to hunt work and decided to travel and
see the world.
He started out with another boy. They went and got work at one place
doing chores. Leslie was a good worker and gave his employer satisfaction, but
James the other boy got discharged, and being far away from home Leslie thot that
he must not separate from James and so he too left this mans employ and went
with James to find another job. They soon found work again, with the result that in
a few days again James was fired. Leslie didn't want to leave the work but felt that
he was in duty bound to stay with James, and so he left his second job on James
account. They went and found more work but in a week or so, James was again
fired and this time Leslie refused to leave or give up his work on James account and
so James went back home and Leslie staid at the work as long as the job lasted.
Then he would take what money he had saved and traveled then hunted
more work. While this was going on, I was anxiously waiting at bountiful to hear
from Leslie. The other boys wrote to me. Daphne too wrote often, but not one
word from Leslie. I would go every day or send to the Post Office, and as time
passed and no word came from him, I asked the other boys where he was but they
too were worried, not knowing where he was, but they would not tell me anything
about it and finally I told them that I would have to come home unless I could hear
from Leslie. We must find him.
Just then I got a letter from Leslie. He was in Wisconsin, working at
building a school house, but he said the work was almost finished and he would be
leaving to find another job. Of course I was thankful to hear from him, but very
worried to know that he was so far away from home and so young and
inexperienced, but he did not stay long after this. The next time I heard from him
he was back home and wrote to me from Idaho. This was certainly good news to
me, to know that he was safe at home with his brothers.
I staid at Salt Lake City working at nursing for nearly a year. Then the boys
wanted and needed me to go to live on their Desert claims to take care of their
places while they were working in the nearby settlements to get means to live while
proving up on their lands.
January 9th 1935 Logan, Utah
I will now resume my story, it having been many months since I wrote the
forgoing. My sons Edward, Marcellus and Alma each took a desert claim of 360
acres of land on the desert about 14 miles west of Blackfoot in Idaho. Here we
lived and struggled, trying to raise crops, and subdue the opposing elements and
conditions. I spent the greater part of ten years trying to help my sons to hold and
take care of their places while they were obliged to work elsewhere for means to
live upon. The drouth, together with so many destructive wild animals and things
that destroyed their crops finally forced them to abandon these desert farms which
they had spent so much hard work, time and means upon.
My son Alma rented a farm from Leonard Cox near Basalt, Idaho. I went
with him also Leslie to help and to be with my boys.
Here it was that my son Marcellus died, after having had bad health for
more than a year. His wife who had not been true to him, soon married again and
went away.
Alma married Coral Kelsey 25 Dec. 1917 at Idaho Falls. Alma and wife
didn't need me longer and so now I was alone most of the time, and Leslie, the last
one of my children had to go away from home to work. He worked for his brothers
a part of the time, and the last two years of his life he worked for Leonard Cox at
farming and herding sheep. He was taken sick while in the mountains herding
sheep. We took him to the hospital at Idaho Falls. He was operated upon for
appendicitis and died the fourth day after the operation, Sept. 30, 1920, Idaho
Falls, Idaho.
No language can express my feelings of loneliness and sorrow. Now my last
child had left me. All of my three children who were still living, did all they could
to comfort me, and all of them offered me a home with them. I surely appreciated
their kindness and goodness to me, but felt that I had better keep my own little
home at Basalt, for I thought that it would perhaps be better all around, than for me
to make my home with my children.
I see that I have repeated some things here. Please excuse me. I had always
looked forward to a time when I could have the privilege of doing temple ordinance
work for the dead, and now that I was left all alone, I naturally craved this privilege,
and tried to plan some way whereby I may go to a temple and engage in this work
for our kindred dead, and I succeeded in saving enough money to go spend the
winter of 1924, at Salt Lake City, to do this work, which I did, and in April 2, 1925
I married Justin R. Porter of Porterville, Utah. I was welcomed by my husbands
family and relatives and treated well by all. Life was not easy there though I had a
nice little home, I had to work hard as I had always done.
[History ends. Continued with excerpts from sketch written 15 Jun 1943 at Logan,
Utah.]
I went the next winter to Salt Lake City to work in the temple for the dead,
while I met Justine Porter and married him, his wife had died six years before, so
he took me to his home to Porterville, Morgan Co, Utah, His children two sons,
and two daughters all lived at Porterville. They all treated me well and seemed to
like me, and all the people of the village treated me well and seemed to like me, and
we lived there for five years and over, then my husband died and left me alone,
At Porterville I became active in the auxiliary organizations of our church
again, they called me to be a counselr to the president of the Relief Society, also the
president of the Primary Association. They also appointed me as Captain of "The
Daughters of the Utah Pioneers" in Porterville called "Porterville Camp of the
Daughter of Pioneers of Utah".
In 1931 I sold my home in Porterville, and moved to Logan, Utah, to spend
my time doing temple ordinance work for the dead. I spent most of my time for
about thirteen years there, doing Temple ordinances work for the dead, and doing
Genealogical research work.
At eighty-five (when [Daphne's] sketch was written), she [lived] at
Blackfoot, in close proximity to her children and her church. She [was] in good
health, considering her age -- [could] see better than many younger women, and
still [kept] her interest in world affairs; and [found] rare contentment in doing
whatever she [could] for others.
[Martha's daughter concluded her sketch with the following, written at a later date.]
The preceding history tells the bare facts of Martha's life, but it scarcely
begins to tell the story. It would take volumns to do that. It tells nothing of the
struggle to raise a family without a father's help and guidence. It touches only
lightly on the problem of stretching every penny until it howls for mercy and still
failing to make it cover the actual needs of a hungry brood; of never eating enough
herself so that there would be more for the little ones. It does not even mention the
agonizing hours at sick beds, only to lose the loved ones in the end; or of the misery
of going about her daily duties with sick despair her constant companion. The
sufferings and privations of her life are left mostly to the imagination.
However her children remember much more: the endless hours at the
spinning wheel, the click of knitting needles into the wee small hours of the night;
the scrimping and the saving; the patch upon the patch. The homemade soap, and
the hours spent above odorous suds, sweating over dirty piles of laundry which her
'rub-a-dub-dub' on the washboard made into snowy piles, to be delivered in the
boy's express wagon. They remember the delicious salt-rising bread, the spearmint
tea, the lumpydick for breakfast (whenever a cow was to be had), and the delicacy
of the pan of clabbered [soured, curdled] milk for supper.
They remember the sulpher and molasses tonic in the spring and the huge
doses of sage tea -- (WHEW!) whenever a cold epidemic came along. They
remember gratefully the good people of Basalt one never-to-be-forgotten winter,
caring for them when the entire family with the exception of Edward, was down
with pneumonia. The two smallest were only slightly ill, but thirteen year old Isaac
died, and two other sons, Marcellus and Alma, were very ill. Martha, herself, lay at
death's door for days. Bishop Dye took the very sick ones into his own home, while
his brother Joseph's family [Edward's inlaws] cared for the smaller ones. Without
their help, newly married Edward and his wife Mary would have been unable to
care for them all.
One of the pleasant memories is of her singing. She loved music; she sang
-- at times almost through tears -- but she sang! That, and a cheerfulness no less
effective because it sprang from courage rather than from happiness. These things
and much, much more they remember with gratitude and affection.
[Martha Jane Carling Webb Porter, Pioneer of 1867, by Daphne Webb Jemmett in
Isaac V. Carling Family History, vol 2, pg 553]
She was a natural artist and made beautiful flower arrangements as gifts and
for graves. All her clothing was homemade. Her obituary contains some errors. A
picture was included but the quality was poor.
"Martha Porter, BLACKFOOT-- Mrs. Martha Jane Carling Webb Porter, 85, died
Friday afternoon at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Daphne Jemmett, 598 Lincoln
St., of causes incident to age."
"Mrs. Porter was born Jan. 25, 1867, at Fillmore, Utah, a daughter of Isaac
and Asenith Browning Carling. The family moved to Orderville, Utah, where she
attended school."
"When she was 16 she was married to Francis Webb and they moved to
Idaho, living on rented farms for several years until they moved to Basalt. They
were later divorced."
"She returned to Utah in 1914 and was married to Justin R. Porter. They
lived at Porterville until Mr. Porters death in 1930."
"Mrs. Porter lived at Logan for 10 years where she worked in the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints Temple. She also worked at various times in
the Salt Lake, St. George and Mesa, Ariz., temples."
"She was active in church work wherever she lived. While at Basalt she
served as president of the Primary."
"Survivors include two sons, Edward M. Webb, Firth; Alma Webb,
Sterling; a daughter, Mrs. Daphne Jemmett, Blackfoot; two sisters, Mrs. May
Covington Lang, Short Creek, Ariz.; Mrs Catherine Porter, Tueson; 23
grandchildren and 64 great-grandchildren."
"Funeral services tentively set for Tuesday at 2 p.m. in the Third Ward
Chapel, will be conducted by Arvel Draper, bishop. Packham Mortuary will direct
the burial in Basalt Cemetery."
[Deseret News, 6 October 1952, pg A-8, also 7 October, pg A-10]
Questions? Email to: Elaine Johnson [elaine@ida.net]